Update January 10, 2025 -- A third suspect has been arrested and charged with aiding and abetting in the murder of Darron Willie Singleton, Jr. On Thursday January 9, 2025, 45-year-old Valena Marie Gonzales of San Diego was apprehended by the San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force near Valley Road and Rio Drive in San Diego. She has been booked into custody at Las Colinas Detention Facility.
East County News Service
January 8, 2025 (Lemon Grove) – The Sheriff’s office today announced the arrest of two men suspected in the murder of 23-year-old Darron Willie Singleton, Jr.
On Sept. 18 around 10:55 p.m., deputies responded to reports of gunfire and found Singleton suffering gunshot wounds to the torse in the 2200 block of Dain Street in Lemon Grove. Despite lifesaving efforts by San Miguel Fire Department personnel and Sheriff’s deputies, Singleton died at the scene.
“Months of intensive investigation led to the arrests of two individuals believed to be involved in this heinous crime,” says Lieutenant Michael Krugh.
East County News Service
Photos courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol
January 25, 2025 (Jacumba Hot Springs, CA) – Two hikers in the Jacumba Wilderness were robbed and attacked, with one man shot by “suspected Mexican cartel terrorists,” according to a press release issued by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
According to the CPB, agents from the El Centro sector were dispatched following a 911 call reporting that a man had been shot and needed assistance. The agents found a group of hikers about 1,000 feet north of the international border in the Jacumba Wilderness, which is near the San Diego County and Imperial County line. The hikers reportedly stated that two of the hikers, an American and a Canadian, were ordered by armed men to approach.
When the hikers refused, “the assailants fired a volley of shots toward the hikers, striking one victim in the leg. The assailants advanced on the downed hiker and his Canadian companion, robbing them of their cell phones and backpacks,” the release states.
East County News Service
Image: Creative Commons via Bing
January 23, 2025 (San Diego) - A woman, along with an incarcerated person, have been arrested on suspicion of mailing drug-laced letters to a San Diego County jail, says Sergeant Aaron Brooks with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Detention Investigations Unit.
East County News Service
January 10, 2025 (San Diego County) – In December, a judge ordered a transient release to a temporary location in San Diego County for Alvin Quarles, a sexually violent predator (SVP). Now Supervisor Joel Anderson has written a letter to Superior Court Judge Marian Gaston urging her to block the release. Anderson has also launched a petition and is seeking signatures from constituents opposed to Quarles’ release.
By Miriam Raftery
January 21, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – Hours after being sworn into office in the Capitol Rotunda, President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order protecting all of the nearly 1,600 people accused or convicted of crimes stemming from the Capitol attack four years earlier. On January 6, 2021, the violent mob assaulted and injured 140 police officers, forcing terrified lawmakers to flee or hide while the mob tried to halt the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump’s order issued a blanket pardon for nearly all of the insurrectionists, erasing their felony records and freeing all who were serving prison sentences, even those convicted of attacking police officers or armed with weapons including firearms, stun guns, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, bike racks, batons, a metal whip, office furniture, pepper spray, bear spray, a tomahawk ax, a hatchet, a hockey stick, knuckle gloves, a baseball bat, a massive “Trump” billboard, “Trump” flags, a pitchfork, pieces of lumber, crutches and even an explosive device.
In addition, he commuted sentences for 14 members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, including the groups’ leaders, Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio, who were serving 18- and 22- year sentences for their roles in organizing the attacks. Both men are now free.
Trump also directed his Attorney General to drop all remaining charges against individuals accused of crimes related to the January 6 Capitol attack, but whose cases had not yet gone to trial.